India Day 6 – Badass Bitches and A Moment of Pure Clarity.

Day 6 was amazing. We traveled to the outskirts of Bilaspur to visit a village that was home to a Women’s self-help group. They completely abolished gambling and alcoholism in their village. They were opinionated, bossy, lively, hilarious and spirited. Total badasses. We loved them.

Eden posing in the village. See the water buffalo in the back ground?

Yeah, it turns out they were coming to kill us. We shrieked and clutched at each other as they bolted towards us. One of the nervous villagers herded us out of the way. We can now officially say to each other ‘Hey remember that time we almost got killed by water buffalo in India?‘.

The women welcomed us into their beautiful silk tent with flowers. I also got a coconut. Bonza.

Eden and this gorgeous lady adored each other. They compared tattoos (her marriage markings and Eden’s skulls), laughed their asses off and shared stories of their families. Eden can talk to anyone, even if they don’t speak the same language.

Kelly is so calm and warm. Eden and I throw ourselves at people but Kelly makes quiet, special friendships, just like our gorgeous girl Joy. Anyone would let Misho take their photo, he has such a beautiful manner and Sam stood solidly by and watched us all like a hawk. It was the perfect team to travel with and I miss them all so much.

A lesson in selfies.

They asked us to sing for them. We decided that a solemn and traditional rendition of ‘Kookaburra Sits in The Old Gumtree‘ was the most appropriate choice.

The view from outside my hotel window in Bilaspur. India constantly felt unreal. I can hardly even remember seeing this with my own eyes, it was so extraordinary.

This was the day that I had my whole life summed up in one sentence. There was a woman there that day who was a government representative of the village. She had been voted in by her people, which was very rare for a woman. She asked if she could sing us a song and one of the lines of the song was translated to us.

The running water is always pure.

She was emotional when she told us of her struggles and her subsequent rise to power. She kept saying ‘keep moving, keep moving’. I totally got what she meant.

It was a moment of clarity for me but also a moment of clarity for Smaggle. I’ve always known what the purpose of Smaggle is but I had a hard time articulating it. The word Smaggle is a cross between a smash and a snuggle. It’s really violent affection, which means being too enthusiastic about everything. A little bit hyperactive, a little bit too keen. If you ‘smaggle’ someone it means you hug them until it hurts.

Smaggle means running too fast and falling flat on your face and laughing instead of crying when your face gets covered in mud. It means saying yes. To almost everything. It means trying something new, even if you’re 100% sure that you won’t like it. It’s not about striving for perfection, it’s not about success. It’s about strapping on your Stack Hat and barreling full pelt down a giant hill on a kids sized bicycle. Because when you aren’t moving, nothing is happening.

With that I leave you with the official tag line of Smaggle.

Smaggle. Get into it.

P.S Thank you all so much for your support and words of love. It’s been amazing. If I could reach through the internets and give you a rib-cracking hug, I would.

About Carly Jacobs

Carly is the founding editor of Smaggle which launched in 2007 back when blogging was weird. She has appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Cosmopolitan and Cleo magazines. Hoop earrings are totally her thing and she almost got run over by Myf Warhurst while out jogging one day.

8 Comments

Now I know what Smaggle means, I totally understand why I love your blog. I have a huge inner smaggle but most of my friends don’t really get unbridled enthusiasm, especially for the silly things I adore, and almost everyone I know would be so uncomfortable if I smaggled them, showing how much I appreciate them. Never fear, next year is the year of the smaggle where I will refused to feel awkward or embarrassed being me! Thanks Lady Smaggle, you rock my world.

Wow, Carly. So great to read your India posts. I love the way you’ve summed up your experiences in this one. I’m so glad you decided to try new experiences and said yes to India. You kept moving, and you’ll continue to. That’s why we love you. xx